Awww how fuzzy. Who's a little minion? You are :p. Who's a fuzzy little furball with claws? You are :D.

Farcaster

01-10-2008, 02:50 PM

I wouldn't let Mulsiphix get too close, if I were you. He has a suspicious look in his eye, and he has a nasty penchant for wanting to eat summoned dire rats, so...

Mulsiphix

01-10-2008, 03:25 PM

I wouldn't let Mulsiphix get too close, if I were you. He has a suspicious look in his eye, and he has a nasty penchant for wanting to eat summoned dire rats, so...I told you I was sorry :(. I didn't mean to hurt Mr. Fuzzykins last week. He was in the snack bowl and I just wasn't paying attention. YOUR MAGNIFICENT STORY SKILLS ARE TO BLAME!! If I wasn't so enthralled his squeaks of horror would have registered in my mind much sooner. How is he doing by the way?

gdmcbride

01-12-2008, 07:55 AM

A frequent saying from my last evil campaign:

"There are only two kinds of minion: competent or loyal."

Gary

Mulsiphix

01-12-2008, 03:01 PM

While on the subject of Minions I wanted to recommend a product (I'll do more thorough reviews in the proper section when I have more time). This came in a Horror RPG lot I bought on eBay and it has quickly become one of my favorites. I haven't had the chance to play it yet but the book itself was a pleasure to read. Here are a few passages from My Life With Master (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9681.phtml) from the first few pages.

So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.
Dear Reader take warning...go not incautiously forward into these pages, for they describe a roleplaying game about the horrific and dysfunctional ties that bind a monstrous Master
and his or her minions. It is a game with a not-so-traditional style of play that could well give you the creeps...though other games may have not.
Now having weighed this caution, should you proceed with these rules I think you'll find the most chilling events of your games arenít so much inflicted by the GM upon the players, but rather, produced by them to the horror of all. Will you laugh?...If you like that sort of thing.
The Master to whom the minion characters of the players are bound has no traits, per se. Fear is a representation of the whole of the Masterís presence and its penetration as a threatening force into the environment. Minions are in some respects empowered by Fear, and also victimized by it. Reason is a representation of the influence of the Townspeople within the environment.I love the way this book is written and hope that the author decides to create more in this product line. Definitely worth checking out ;)

Bloodwyrm

01-15-2008, 03:05 PM

Minions rock im now creating one as i post.

Mulsiphix

01-15-2008, 05:23 PM

Even if they serve no purpose other than a purly aesthetic one, I plan to give all my players in any long term campaign the ability to have familiar or minion. They're just soooo cute :p

Digital Arcanist

01-15-2008, 09:14 PM

So is the horrible XP loss when they die...oh wait...its not!!!

rabkala

01-15-2008, 10:43 PM

I love adopting strange followers/cohorts/minions ! It is so cool to say adopt the runt kobold hatching and raise it to be your loyal monk follower, as I did in my last game. In a game I am playing in now, I rescued a lizardfolk from captivity who is now a 'cohort' swashbuckler. :D
When I DM, I always allow for such oddness. It is great fun.

Mulsiphix

01-15-2008, 11:01 PM

I love adopting strange followers/cohorts/minions ! It is so cool to say adopt the runt kobold hatching and raise it to be your loyal monk follower, as I did in my last game.

When I DM, I always allow for such oddness. It is great fun.I agree. Minions and familiars add a dash of oddity to the setting in the most pleasant of ways. I also really like the idea of dying a valiant death (not purposefully of course) so that I could have a chance to come back as somebody from the monster manual (a DM or two mentioned they allowed this). It would be so much fun :D

Lexdragon

01-31-2008, 10:53 AM

Right on. I have had such a lack of players in the last few years that i have to encourage cohorts and minions just so the group is full.

tesral

01-31-2008, 11:15 AM

We are low on minions at the moment. One rather addle brained ferret (but I repeat myself) and a cat or two, but none otherwise. They had three Samurai at one point. It is a poor province, they couldn't afford seven.

Mulsiphix

02-01-2008, 01:03 AM

They had three Samurai at one point. It is a poor province, they couldn't afford seven.LOL that is classic :p

Maelstrom

02-01-2008, 04:25 AM

Kobolds make great minions. Hand em a longspear and they actually might survive.

My players also had a goblin following em around once. When a new player joined, I let her play the goblin. The goblin eventually got Gauntlets of Ogre strength (D&D 2nd version - +6 damage etc). The goblin kept trying to eat the wizard's familiar.

nijineko

02-01-2008, 08:24 AM

A frequent saying from my last evil campaign:

"There are only two kinds of minion: competent or loyal."

Gary

you forgot the third kind:

dead.

;D

nijineko

02-01-2008, 08:31 AM

I love adopting strange followers/cohorts/minions ! It is so cool to say adopt the runt kobold hatching and raise it to be your loyal monk follower, as I did in my last game. In a game I am playing in now, I rescued a lizardfolk from captivity who is now a 'cohort' swashbuckler. :D
When I DM, I always allow for such oddness. It is great fun.

the last time i tried that, the dm catapulted my character through time, and when i finally got back the hatchling in question was an angsty angry teenager who hated his "mother" for abandoning him. i was rather ticked.

Mulsiphix

02-01-2008, 09:57 AM

the last time i tried that, the dm catapulted my character through time, and when i finally got back the hatchling in question was an angsty angry teenager who hated his "mother" for abandoning him. i was rather ticked.:eek: Holy crap that sounds awesome! :D

tesral

02-01-2008, 12:03 PM

you forgot the third kind:
dead.
;D

Those are the totally loyal ones.

One group had a Kobold that ended up as the party cook. "Entree" got decent at it even. He lived back at the Adventuring Club headquarters and worked in the kitchen, eventually as head chef. That same group had a hobgoblin that was fiercely loyal. They had captured him and he agreed to guide them. When he got poisoned in an encounter with a monster they expended magic to save him. He knew he was valued and wanted. He ended up as the Great Chief of the South when the Demon war was over. The Hobgoblins of the south having been minionized by the demon-possessed Ogre. Once the war was over thye were leaderless and He, with some help, was made chief. He is still on good terms with the members of the Adventuring Club.

Mulsiphix

02-01-2008, 10:42 PM

Entire Post*wipes a tear from his eye* Its about time somebody posted some stories about minions that were treated like everybody else; valued and respected *sniffle*

nijineko

02-02-2008, 06:56 AM

the first time we saved some prisoners, one of them swore to serve us in gratitude. she is now the party bard. and is on the thri-kreen and sorcerer's list of potential clutch-mates(family). (the sorcerer is an albino drow who thinks he is an elf that was found abandonded in an oasis cave by thri-kreen and raised first by the thri-kreen tribe and later also by a tribe of painted elves, thus he and the thri-kreen are already the same 'clutch'. he also has a bit of the hots for her, what with her being an elf and all.)

we've lost count of the number of times that she's saved our butts, or made the critical difference in a fight. after all, +3 to hit adds up, especially with the dervish. we pretty much rely on her inspiration ability in combat. we'll even swing it so that we put up a silence effect and on the other side she sings and we charge in and finish off the fight in the time left after she stops concentrating.

Mulsiphix

02-03-2008, 06:09 PM

She sounds tasty. Is the bard a real player or an NPC the DM enjoys controlling?

nijineko

02-04-2008, 09:29 AM

well, this is the campaign the two of us play when the rest of the people who are supposed to show, don't. so he was playing two characters, plus being dm; and i was running three characters. the addition of the bard, technically an npc makes the dm's 'third' character. so it's just the two of us playing. but it's loads of fun. the journal excerpts i've posted links to on other parts of this board are from that campaign.

razada

02-06-2008, 04:17 PM

i have aways liked being a thrall herd, they get little minions every day from their surroundings, imagine..... "Why is't Scott at his post!!!!!" "sir, he left to the forest with 6 other men, said it was calling to them" "find them!!!!!"

that would start some choas, imagine when i find the captian and HIS men are following ME

Mulsiphix

02-07-2008, 04:05 AM

imagine..... "Why is't Scott at his post!!!!!" "sir, he left to the forest with 6 other men, said it was calling to them" "find them!!!!!" Very cute :p

cplmac

02-07-2008, 05:43 PM

*wipes a tear from his eye* Its about time somebody posted some stories about minions that were treated like everybody else; valued and respected *sniffle*

Like when Raistlin befriends the gulley dwarf.:)

Mulsiphix

02-08-2008, 07:31 PM

A Dwarf as a minion? Seriously? That is like having a human as a minion. Something that capable almost violates the minion code. Wait, maybe I'm thinking of familiars :confused:

tesral

02-09-2008, 01:46 AM

A Dwarf as a minion? Seriously? That is like having a human as a minion. Something that capable almost violates the minion code. Wait, maybe I'm thinking of familiars :confused:

Humans are very common as minions. You're thinking of familars.

Maelstrom

02-09-2008, 05:25 AM

Gulley Dwarves in Krynn are much more minion-like than PC-like.

They are about as close to the Redneck stereotype as you can come in a fantasy setting. I imagine a guy like Smee in Neverland.

cplmac

02-09-2008, 09:18 PM

Gulley Dwarves in Krynn are much more minion-like than PC-like.

They are about as close to the Redneck stereotype as you can come in a fantasy setting. I imagine a guy like Smee in Neverland.

If you are familiar with the Gulley Dwarves of Krynn, have you read any of the Dragonlance series books? In one of them, Flint (a mountain Dwarf) manages to get himself made King of the Gulley Dwarves.

Mulsiphix

02-09-2008, 11:42 PM

I haven't read the Dragonlance books but I've heard the story of Flint mentioned a couple times on these boards. Maybe they were all from you cplmac :p

nijineko

02-10-2008, 05:02 AM

i've somehow managed to avoid the dragonlance series, except for one trilogy. i'll eventually read some more of them. maybe. at least, they are on the list.

rabkala

02-10-2008, 09:55 AM

A Dwarf as a minion? Seriously? That is like having a human as a minion. Something that capable almost violates the minion code. Wait, maybe I'm thinking of familiars :confused:
A minion can be any follower, servant, hireling, or subordinate type. One of my younger cousins was confused about that also. He used to call them 'steeds'. We teased about it frequently.

i've somehow managed to avoid the dragonlance series, except for one trilogy. i'll eventually read some more of them. maybe. at least, they are on the list.
I have read many of them. It is kind of hit and miss like the FR books (if you have read any of those). Some authors and subjects are much better than others. I guess that's like any book, you can't judge it by its cover...

Drohem

02-10-2008, 10:32 AM

Gully dwarves are a DragonLance specific dwarven sub-race.

http://www.kencyclopedia.com/kender/roleplaying/3EGullyDwarves.cfm

nijineko

02-11-2008, 05:05 AM

my dm's wife played a kender once.... she was never the same after. neither was any short character she played. sad. very sad.

tesral

02-11-2008, 08:55 AM

my dm's wife played a kender once.... she was never the same after. neither was any short character she played. sad. very sad.

You may have destroyed the list just by mentioning it. ;)

Mulsiphix

02-11-2008, 09:45 AM

What is a kender?

tesral

02-11-2008, 10:08 AM

What is a kender?

A halfing without any sense of self preservation.

Mulsiphix

02-11-2008, 11:08 AM

A halfing without any sense of self preservation.Abomination! (Viktor From Underworld)

cplmac

02-11-2008, 11:28 AM

What is a kender?

Krynn's version of a theif. Although they prefer to be called Handlers, because in thier minds, they don't "steal" anything.

Drohem

02-11-2008, 11:45 AM

What is a kender?

Kender are the "halfling" race in the DragonLance series on the world of Krynn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kender

cplmac

02-11-2008, 11:55 AM

I haven't read the Dragonlance books but I've heard the story of Flint mentioned a couple times on these boards. Maybe they were all from you cplmac :p

I pretty sure that this is the first time I mentioned about the story of Flint. How long ago were the other times, since I am relatively new to P&PG site.

Mulsiphix

02-11-2008, 02:44 PM

How weird. I did a search of the forum and couldn't find anything else. Yet I know I've heard that story at least twice within the last month or two. I really don't visit any other forums. Maybe it was a fan website or even a supplement I was digging through? I can't provide any URL's. I have no clue cplmac :(

rabkala

02-11-2008, 09:07 PM

What is a kender?
Pure annoyance!

What is a dead kender?
Priceless.

Mulsiphix

02-11-2008, 09:14 PM

Your hatred scares me. I hope you haven't been affected by the atmosphere of your new forums. Your posts have been dark as of late.

tesral

02-11-2008, 10:35 PM

Your hatred scares me. I hope you haven't been affected by the atmosphere of your new forums. Your posts have been dark as of late.

Many people play Kender exactly as I describe. A halfling with no sense of self preservation. Oh yes, and they lay their paws on everything that isn't nailed down. Kender with claw hammers get those items. But they don't "steal" they just have an extremely loose idea of personal property.

In short, as annoying as the elf ranger with "Human" as their favored enemy.

I know DMs whose rule for Dragonlance is "anything BUT Kender".

nijineko

02-13-2008, 02:12 AM

they have a very "ab-original" view of property... everything belongs to everyone. but other races find it odd that it tends to be the valuable trinkets that somehow 'fall' into their pockets when they aren't looking, and the incessent price-conscious kleptomania doesn't help others' opinions either.

the tendancy to say anything that pops into their heads with complete disregard for the situation, need for stealth, persons involved, status of said persons, or who may be listening in; not to mention the regretable volume that such pronouncements are made at, does not improve the view. (example of a typical kender comment in a court setting: "why doesn't the king do something about his brat of a kid, absolute disgrace, i tell you, can't even raise a child properly... and what's he doing running a kingdom, one has to wonder!" (slips off bracelets and rings from surrounding people, and somehow manages to wind up with silverware in pockets....))

gdmcbride

02-13-2008, 02:52 AM

Dragonlance's Kender are definitely a love it or hate it kind of race.

Put me down in the hate camp. I have seen way too many game sessions degenerate into kender games. Yes, yes ... it's amusing ... once. But soon enough a pathological liar/kleptomaniac/practical joker who the world itself seems dedicated to keeping alive and who you HAVE to travel with quickly wears.

I suppose I could imagine a well played kender, I just have yet to see it.

Gary

nijineko

02-13-2008, 03:13 AM

well, by definition, the well played kender IS the barely tolerable one. although the party complains less if you don't blow the stealth missions and if you keep your hands in pockets other than the party's and don't get caught.... actually being of good wit and keeping the puns coming helps... sorta. but puns are another post.

Drohem

02-13-2008, 10:10 AM

Yeah, Kender are a great literary tool, but their practical application falls a little short (zing!).

Mulsiphix

02-13-2008, 10:23 AM

the tendancy to say anything that pops into their heads with complete disregard for the situation, need for stealth, persons involved, status of said persons, or who may be listening in; not to mention the regretable volume that such pronouncements are made at, does not improve the view. (example of a typical kender comment in a court setting: "why doesn't the king do something about his brat of a kid, absolute disgrace, i tell you, can't even raise a child properly... and what's he doing running a kingdom, one has to wonder!" (slips off bracelets and rings from surrounding people, and somehow manages to wind up with silverware in pockets....))This had me laughing out loud. I had to show it to my wife as well. Best description I've had of a kender so far. Many thanks for the education and a good hearty laugh :p